I do think that as evangelicals we consistently underestimate the power of culture, and our attempts to “be relevant” usually end up as our weakness rather than our strength. But I believe in a certain type of counterculture—in Tim Keller’s immortal phrase, “A counterculture for the common good.” We create alternate communities that not only pray for the wider world, but also serve that wider world in acts of mercy and justice. Take The Salvation Army--an evangelical approximation of monastic counterculture and discipline, complete with distinctive clothing. In the mid-1880s the Salvation Army took on the audacious goal to end unemployment in Britain. They didn’t succeed, but their experiment led to thousands of urban ministries today.
... and that is that even those who are making the biggest noise about relevancy are not advocting complete assimilation into culture. They always have aspects that are counter-cultural or culture-alternate. Similarly, those who seem to be counter or alternate usually hide [unwittingly, for the most part] things that are working powerfully with the grain of their host cultures. The real choice is not between two opposites but how one negotiates the tension and particularly which things are identified as crucial for either going along with or challenging. While the Sally Army was counter cultural in many ways, the whole uniform, marching band and extended military metaphor thing worked very well, I imagine with Victorian respect for the military which went with Empire and 'the white man's burden'.
The article is worth reading and pondering. Having recently taken a course which involved looking at Benedictine spirituality, I'm more aware than ever of what good things it has to teach us.
Leadership Blog: Out of Ur: Spiritual Formation: we’ve already got a proven model, but do we want it?:
Filed in: monasticism, spiritual, formation, Benedictine
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